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$page->title = 'When &ldquo;Have To&rdquo; Becomes &ldquo;Want To&rdquo;';
$page->date = '2013-10-13';
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<p>When &ldquo;Have To&rdquo; Becomes &ldquo;Want To&rdquo;</p>
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<p>Sunday we studied Galatians 3:1&mdash;25 and sought to answer the question many
Christ followers wrestle with in their walk with God. As Christians what is our
obligation to &ldquo;the law&rdquo;? The Ten Commandments are a summation of the full law of
God that the Jewish people sought to follow in order to earn God&rsquo;s favor and
approval. Our belief as Christians is that Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law and
that we are saved not by our performance, but by His life, death, and
resurrection in our place.</p>

<p>Does that give us a free pass to do whatever we want knowing God has already
forgiven us? Or, is there a standard we are still called to live by?</p>

<p>The fundamental change that happens in a believer&rsquo;s heart is that motivation
changes from &ldquo;I have to&rdquo; to &ldquo;I want to.&rdquo; Rather than living under the burden of
having to do certain things in order to earn God&rsquo;s approval, we want to live
according to His standard in honor and worship of Him. We want what He wants.
So, living a holy life is not the curse of &ldquo;I have to,&rdquo; it&rsquo;s the joy and
gratitude of &ldquo;I want to.&rdquo;</p>

<p>We see this play out in parenting. We teach and instill values in our kids
that we often have to coerce them to follow while they are young. The hope is at
some point they internalize those values, their hearts change, and they want to
live those out.</p>

<p>I saw an example of this in one of my daughter&rsquo;s this past week. I can&rsquo;t
count how many times we have had to &ldquo;make&rdquo; her clean her room and stand in the
doorway to make sure it actually happened. Don&rsquo;t judge&hellip; you have to do it, too.
:-) A few days ago, we met an elderly neighbor in our new neighborhood. She is a
widow and has battled numerous health issues. After meeting her and hearing her
story, my daughter wrote in her journal that she wanted to help our neighbor
keep her house clean so her friends and family could come see her.</p>

<p>I didn&rsquo;t have to tell her to do that. I didn&rsquo;t have to bribe her to do that.
Her &ldquo;I have to&rdquo; changed to &ldquo;I want to.&rdquo; And you know what my daughter and I
shared in that? Joy! She had joy in wanting to serve others. I had joy watching
new life spring up in her. That is a mirror of what happens in our relationship
with our Heavenly Father when &ldquo;I have to&rdquo; changes to &ldquo;I want to.&rdquo;</p>

<p>God is not after our begrudging submission to a list of rules. He is after
our joy. Joy is found when &ldquo;I have to&rdquo; changes to &ldquo;I want to.&rdquo;</p>

<p>I pray we all would live in that joy and freedom and freely share it with
others. I&rsquo;m praying for you, NRHC, and can&rsquo;t wait to gather with you again on
Sunday. Have an awesome week!</p>

<p>Until All Hear,<br> Jay</p>
